I find it very telling that even you, who seems to enjoy the movie much more than I do, refer to the characters as Bullock and Clooney. I think that's really what irks me about the movie. Those two are not the right actors. Clooney plays George Clooney very well, but not every movie needs a George Clooney. Don't get me wrong, some movies definitely require him, and then he excels. But George Clooney the astronaut? Doesn't work. Him dicking around in a MMU at the beginning of the film, just wasting fuel? This wouldn't happen.
As for Ms. Bullock, I think she did a good job, no complaints. Nothing spectacular, but nothing really irritating either. But perhaps I've been too conditioned into thinking how Hollywood works - if there are two A-list stars in a film, and one of them dies, there's no way in hell the second one will as well. As such, the rest of the movie is basically watching how Bullock will eventually survive. There is no great surprise. When she hit the ocean I almost walked out of the theatre - get it over with already!
If they would have toned down the action, and had a no-name (or less known even) cast it would have been much more effective. Yes, space is a terrifying place, no need to try to make it more so. As it though, they were almost there (as said, the visuals and sound design were very good), but missed the mark.
I'm thinking that should probably be "Oyj", although that typo is not so easy to make (was it in the original article - how am I supposed to know? 'tis
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." - Bert Lantz
